Sidewalk Cafe
by skabs
Summary: There aren't enough Artemis/Alex crosses out there. This is my take. No real plot yet.


This is a little something that slipped into my head as I was trying desperately to continue 'Taking out the Trash' - which is being a pain in my tuckus! I had to write it down, and since I promised many updates this weekend, I must share. This will most likely never be completed, and it is my first foray into something that might (_Might_) be considered slash. I don't know where it's going, or even IF it's going anywhere. But please enjoy.

Artemis Fowl and Alex Rider do not belong to me. They belong to Eoin Colfer and Anthony Horowitz respectively

* * *

The man leaning against the bridge railing was often mistaken for an actor. Which one was never really specified, but it was generally believed that his engaging grin and warm brown eyes had been recently seen on the big screen, and whomever had that mistaken impression usually wanted an autograph. He would smile, wave off the apologies and kindly direct the tourist to wherever it was they were looking for. He was tall, incredibly fit, and his wavy blond hair reflected gold in the setting sun behind him. He looked as if he were just casually waiting for someone, and if you were to glance over him, you wouldn't think twice.

But in the line of his body you could see the tension, if you were an observer of unusual talents. The young man watching him was actually a genius, and he could see the nerves apparent in every hard line, in the pursing of his lips, the twitching of his eyebrow when something caught his attention.

Artemis Fowl, one of the top thieves and richest men in the world, had been caught by the sight of the man on the bridge, and the inconsistencies amused him. He hadn't had much to occupy his time in a while, ever since his brothers had really started to bloom into their own intelligence and take over some of his starter ventures. His mother had suggested a holiday, and shoved him into the family jet so fast he knew that the entire thing had been planned by someone else. His mother was one of the most honest people on the planet, she had no guile, so Artemis assumed his father had planned the trip and told his mother last minute. It would be like them.

So he was sitting near a bridge in Italy, sipping cappuccino as only the Italians could make them, when the glint of gold and the intense stillness caught his eye.

"Artemis," a deep voice intoned right behind his ear. It was a soft voice, and he might have thought he'd imagined it if not for the bulky shadow that now loomed over him. Butler, his large body guard, was standing behind him, having secured the area against threats of any kind. Butler had been with Artemis from the day of his birth, his bulky, yet quick body, had never let his boss down. Not only was Butler a body guard, but a friend and confidant, and incredibly intelligent in his own field. That was the only reason Artemis took his warning to heart, but to tell the truth it looked like the Adonis on the bridge was just waiting for his girlfriend or some such. But Butler said, "That boy is trouble and we have to leave now."

* * *

Alex Rider didn't want to be on the bridge. In fact he didn't want to be in Italy. Alex wanted nothing more that to be at home, back in England, reading up for his Chemistry final. It had been hard enough to take his A-Levels with a well enough average to pass, let alone get into Uni, but when MI6 said jump he had to sigh and bend over. At least that's what it felt like to him. Blunt had called him into the Royal and General Bank and had given him just enough information on the case they wanted him to take to make him feel obligated. At nineteen he was still no better at denying them than he'd been at fourteen. So here he was, standing on a bridge in the middle of Italy, waiting for a snitch who said he'd only talk to Alex.

At least while he was waiting here his view was pretty nice. Not only was the sky turning a marvelous orange red, the river beneath him glittering with the setting sun, but a rather attractive young man just sat down at the sidewalk trattoria and ordered a coffee.

He was all pale and lithe, hidden behind expensive black silk business attire. His black hair was swept away from his forehead and carefully gelled into place, his fingers were long and graceful as they gathered the wide mug and lifted it to his lips.

Alex was a master at observing without getting caught, but he had a feeling that the man at the café was watching him as well. It was a private battle as to which one would admit it first. That was, until the large shadow of a man crouched behind his temporary rival.

Alex had to groan privately to himself, bad guys always had bodyguards. The man crouching could be nothing but, what with his wide frame but careful hunting movements. He was almost triple the size of his charge, in nothing but muscle, and the frowning countenance on his face told a story Alex didn't want to listen to.

Something bad was going to happen, and it was going to happen soon.

* * *

Artemis shifted to stand just as the loud insult of gunfire exploded on the other side of the bridge. Butler dragged him from his chair and threw him into the café as the man on the bridge pulled a gun from behind his back and aimed at someone Artemis couldn't see. Butler stood, as he should, in front of his charge; but still behind the wall, as the other customers and people milling around the sidewalk panicked. Artemis wasn't panicked, Butler knew well, but he wasn't protesting the treatment as he usually did. Butler turned a fraction of an inch, just to check on Artemis, and hissed when he realized that he was peeking around the other side, watching the bridge from the window.

"Stay away from glass!" Butler hissed, "haven't I taught you anything?" and the kicker was that Butler had taught him, but Artemis never listened when there was something more interesting happening.

* * *

Alex whipped his head around as he heard the shots. They'd been fired up into the sky, just to get his attention, and he scowled when he recognized the face of the shooter. He gripped the handle of his gun from the back of his jeans, and pulled it out.

"What do you want?"

"Your head on a platter."

"Not going to happen like this," Alex pointed out. "I'm a better shot than you. You should have taken me out while I was looking away, but you wasted opportunity on a warning shot?"

"That warning shot wasn't for you," the man shrugged. "You aren't the only person here I'm going to kill, I felt it sporting to give Butler a chance to protect his young." The smile stretched until he looked like a caricature of himself.

"Young?" Alex asked, though now he had a pretty good idea of who the meglomaniac meant.

"See, you weren't the only reason my company went down, I was arrested, and my entire fortune dwindled to nothing. You were actually clean-up, though I do commend you for the case you put together to keep me away for life… by the way, prison was remarkably easy to break out of."

"What was the other reason?" Alex liked to give people just enough rope to hang themselves with, and this was turning out the length pretty fast.

"Fowl, that child, didn't agree with my policies," he shrugged. "He has a habit of knocking people down to size while ruining their livelihood. Just because he didn't like my side business of selling and trading the whores that they are-"

"You mean kidnapping and raping innocent tourists and then selling them to the highest bidder after hooking them on drugs and destroying their spirits?" Alex had to clarify the points he was offended on.

"None of you understand," he growled. "They were just women! Who really cares?"

"You see, this was the reason you were caught," Alex sighed. "You were too busy reveling in your brilliance."

The mans eyes widened as the cold metal cuff clasped against his wrist and his arm was yanked back, simultaneously knocking the gun from his grasp. The Police officer grabbed his other wrist and connected the two, then pulled him back into the squad car that had been called by dozens of phones when the warning shot went off.

It was possibly the easiest arrest of the mans life.


End file.
